Tuesday, November 4, 2008

opinions, opinions

Sidenote about this post: I wrote most of this way before today (and had it saved as a draft), so keep in mind I did not write this post-election except for the last couple sentences.

So, since my degree is in political science, we'll visit that realm for a while. Especially since this whole election thing has been going on. I suppose I can go there. I don't really like discussing politics actually...mostly because I have developed a strong distaste for how people approach it. I mean, it's great to have beliefs and strong convictions, but those always seem to overshadow peoples' ability to discuss and debate intelligently. If that made any sense. And that's why we never get anywhere. It's like people don't know how to take a step back and look at things from both perspectives. All people want to do is bash the opposing view and automatically label it as ignorant or unintelligent. I can honestly say that I always try to respect anyone who has different views than me, and I always try to remember that just because we have a difference in opinion doesn't mean that either side is less intelligent. Just because candidates have two different ways of handling issues doesn't mean that one is less intelligent than the other. I find it kind of ironic that we preach tolerance and acceptance all the time but can't get through an election without throwing around completely mind-numbing bs in all directions that displays anything BUT tolerance and acceptance of differing opinions. That was a really long run on sentence. Anyway, it's completely ridiculous, and I suppose it's why I have always been uninterested in the election side of politics. Furthermore, I think I have a very strong case in saying that people should be ashamed of themselves in regards to the treatment of Sarah Palin. Neither McCain, Obama, or Biden experienced anything like the biased, unfounded attacks that Sarah Palin weathered. See, here's my thing. If you think that she is completely wrong in her views, that is great, we're supposed to disagree with each other. But respectfully disagreeing with someone and just completely (and ignorantly) attacking them are two different things. I'm glad I can honestly say that I respected all the candidates in this election and will continue to respect the winners. Is that what you can say? I hope so.

In other news, Santogold is awesome. Check her out on iTunes. I'm planning to go see Mates of State on Nov. 21st at the Handlebar in Greenville, SC. SO EXCITED. And the Holiday season is upon us! Time to pull out Sarah McLachalan's album Wintersong...one of my favorites by far. LOVE IT! the end. :)

1 comment:

Here here! I agree there needs to be more intelligent discourse out there, from the media down to each individual person. It seems like "debate" on the 24 hour news networks consists of 2 or more people shouting over each other and brow-beating each other with opinions. The end result is the viewer comes away acutally LESS informed. As a poli-sci major, you probably encountered this in the classroom as well, where the most opinionated conservative and the most opinionated liberal scream at each other for the whole class and just end up wasting time. I'd like to see more "better angels of our nature" and less partisan mudslinging as well. Off topic: I'm a fan of Kings of Leon as well, would you trade me burn of the new one for some Radiohead or older Kings stuff?